Fred Brisker is very much an expert when it comes to investment, having worked in industry for his 30+ year career and we are very lucky that he was able to give up some of his time to talk about investments in the year 2020 with us. We also got Fred to answer some of your burning investment questions and the one which we have been asked more than others was whether or not you should rely on investment advice, or look to go after it on your own.
This is a very tough one to answer, so we’ll hand things over to the expert.
Your Knowledge Base
Much of this is going to depend on just how much knowledge you already have about the areas in which you wish to invest. If you know absolutely zero about investments then the first step which you should make is to go after some knowledge on your own and then look for some advice, if you look for advice now then people may play on your lack of knowledge. If you have a lot of knowledge then chatting with an expert could help, but if you are in the middle then this is probably the best place to be in if you want to get some support.
Money
Much of this will come down to how much money you are going to invest and what level of risk is associated with that. If you are planning on dropping a couple of thousand dollars on investments then you are much better off giving it a try on your own, rather than seeing the support of a specialist. If however you have tens of thousands which you are looking to invest then it makes a great deal of sense for you to seek out some advice, and I would recommend that you do so from multiple sources rather than just one investment expert, and then weigh up what each one has said to you.
High Risk
It is not just the risk associated with the amount of money which should be factored into this decision but also the level of risk which you may be making with this particular trade or trades. If you are going into a volatile market then it makes sense for you t first get some guidance or at the very least some advice from someone who has been in the game longer than you have, which will help you to understand exactly what the level of risk which you are exposing yourself to will be.
Ultimately this will come down to how confident you feel with your selections, if you are dropping a small amount of money on a low risk investment and you are happy with the research which you have done then using an investment expert may not be the right move for you, if things are more risky, better to get some advice first.
